Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Savannah Trip Day 2 - Smell That? Smells Like Vacation!

Hello Everyone,

First, why would anyone wake up before 7 am on a Sunday when they are on vacation? You wouldn't and shouldn't, but I did - at 6:52 am to be exact! Why? I went to bed really early, that's why. But, it wasn't all bad. I quickly got ready for my day and went downstairs for breakfast before anyone else was down there (except Kristine - she was already awake).

I don't have a picture of our beautiful breakfast because I was starving and forgot. 2 hard boiled eggs, blueberry mini muffin, 1 slice toast, milk and 1/2 a banana. They were out of orange juice (villians!), so I wasn't able to have my greens :(

But, anyway, I was ready for the busy day ahead. Camera batteries fully charged, phone fully charged, belly full, sneakers and a map!

























First, we headed to Georgia State's Railroad Museum. Wow, if you love trains, that is the place to go. Mark absolutely loves trains, so I wanted to get some good shots for his birthday next month.

I know nothing about trains, so I can't tell you which engines they had, but it was amazing to be able to touch history, smell the coal in those old buildings and see what types of machinery existed back then.

Next, we headed to the Wormsloe Plantation. While there isn't much to look at besides the most breathtaking roads of trees! Rows and rows of Spanish moss hanging on the oak trees.


Front Gate



According to the website, quite a few people have had their wedding pictures take there - and now, I know why. They have a $10 admissions fee to walk around the property and view the ruins.

  











 

 

The plantation itself, however, is completely off limits due to the current family descendants living there. However, there is a section of the property you can see the plantation in the distance.



Next, we headed to the famous Bonaventure Cemetery. **Tourist Tip: you must travel through the perimeter of Savannah to get to the cemetery. As soon as you leave the historic district, it becomes the real Savannah away from the history and glamour. Those "oohs" and "ahhs" quickly turn into, well, "wow, that was fast."** It's literally a 20 minute drive.

The "Bird Girl" statute (seen in the picture to the left) was removed because of constant vandalism (thank you to whoever is responsible for that). We started at the back and worked our way to the front. We skipped the walking tour and just visited on our own.

They have some headstones sectioned off, such as the Holocaust Memorial, Confederate Soldier's, World Wars from 1980s to present; families of Savannah are scatters throughout the property with headstones of different shapes and sizes. From babies who may have only lived a day (unfortunately, some families had multiple children who passed) to family members who lived well over 100 years old.

What was even more amazing about the cemetery, was that there wasn't any flowers, but stones. Apparently, leaving a stone(s) is like leaving flowers, only stones last forever. It's a Jewish tradition (which we were told) and it makes perfect sense. Leave a stone the next time you visit a family member's grave. Some had a few, while others were covered.




This was the only headstone that I saw that mentioned anything about a loving relationship between husband and wife.




Both of the pictures above, if you zoom in you'll see that some if not all of the fingers are broken off of the headstones. This was from vandals.




I am absolutely stunned by the detail on some of the headstones. It is breathtaking to see the time period in which they were created, then see the detail and just imagine about the labor of hours it took to complete.

TYBEE ISLAND

Finally, we finished in Tybee Island. A beautiful beach, so much longer (road to water) than any beach in Florida I've ever been to. The soft sand didn't burn the soles of my feet as I walked on it and the water was ICE COLD. Way too cold to even sit on the sand bar for a few minutes. It was low tide and, of course, like any beach - breathtaking.

On our way back to our hotel, we stopped at a restaurant called The Crab Shack. It is not the same as Joe's Crab Shack. Of course, it's a sea food restaurant. The entire menu is totally different than what I expected. While this place takes up a great deal of space, it's very relaxing and away from the tourist attraction. I wasn't in the mood for fish, so I ended up having chipped pork. Chipped is very similar to pulled, but cut in much smaller pieces. Their BBQ sauce is more like a mustard BBQ and definitely not my cup of tea. However, the pork, was smoked perfectly and whatever rub they use is yummy. Kudos to the chef.


While our day wasn't quiet over, we headed back to the hotel for a nap before heading out for the evening of festivities.

After taking a two hour nap, we got ready for a night out on the town. However, we forgot that it was a Sunday night and Savannah rolls up their sidewalks at 10 pm.

Yeah, so... we went back to Wet Willie's for a second round (I had chocolate mixed with White Russian = yum) and walked the other half of River Street (to complete our walk from Saturday night).

~~~~~

Now, if you visit Savannah (and you should) - you need to know the following:
  • Don't go out for a night on the town at 9 pm on a Sunday - when everything closes at 10 pm. Nothing is open, but pubs.
  • After 8 pm, the locals come out - as in Savannah's "bums."
    • Savannah's "bums" (a local called them that) will make palm flowers for the tourists in exchange for a donation.
      • This is usually a scam for locals to find the gullible tourists. Every tourist city has this type of trick - so, please be careful out there.
Tomorrow, we plan to walk through the city and go shopping, visit historic homes and famous parks. We'll see how much walking we'll do too. Today, we accomplished 10 miles of steps. I love my Fit Bit.

Click here for Day 3.

~Meredith

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